Rising Phoenix
by kuba22277
Summary: In an unlikely turn of events, a human soldier finds a half-dead Cornerian and decides to help. He'll soon face an important question - during the war, can altruism even exist? And when governments fall, will self-declared vigilantes be able to restore peace? Only time and blood will tell. Just remember - Phoenix can fall, but it will ultimately rise from the ashes.
1. 1-Welcome to the frontline

Nora managed to jump behind the concrete barricade mere seconds before the explosion. A loud bang tore through the air along with pieces of what was a car just moments ago. Bullets and laser bolts regularly flew just above her head, kept at bay only by the thin layer of concrete that would soon deteriorate under the gunfire.

"Prepare another shot, she ran away!" someone shouted in the distance.

That was Nora's cue to escape, yet she was unable to - her body refused to obey after all the stress she put it under up until that point. Every muscle fiber in her body ached terribly, she had at least one rib severely damaged, her right leg was most likely shot through and just overall she felt light-headed and completely exhausted. Gathering all the remaining energy with the help of adrenaline, she jumped out of her cover and headed towards another barrier, about 200 meters further down - out of the rocket launcher's reach.

"It's so close… I can make it" she repeated to herself, pushing her muscles to the very limit, and even though limping, still managing to keep a steady pace, just a little below a sprint. She was positive she could make it - a pathetic ambush couldn't be her end, she had already survived worse situations, and, more importantly, she wasn't fighting for her and herself only. She had other people that she cared about and she couldn't afford to leave them stranded, not ever, and especially not like that. Her body pumped enormous amounts of adrenaline, trying to keep her fueled enough to, more or less safely, make the distance. With every rushed step her confidence rose - once she had jumped behind the barricade, she would be safe from the RPG, the snipers, and other bullets…

But that wasn't what fate had planned for her.

Out of the blue, she felt a powerful kick on her left arm that almost spun her around. Noticing a distinctive flash of light in the corner of her eye, she instinctively understood what happened. By a miscalculation, sheer chance, or pure luck, the sniper missed her vital organs by mere inches, a mistake that wouldn't and most likely, won't happen twice. Instantaneously the remaining energy left her, along with certainty and will to fight - any effort was futile at that point. Adrenaline left her veins almost as fast as it appeared, now leaving her numb and confused. Her eyes got covered by a pitch-black mist, and a deafening silence entered her ears. Her winded body collapsed on the ground.

" _No, no no no! It cannot end like this!_ " her mind shouted to herself in panic, attempting to fight the weakness that was already winning the fight for her consciousness. Her chest was burning with pain that flooded her thoughts, making it even harder to cling to the last, rapidly disappearing strands of life. Even with that burning sensation in the chest, the rest of the body was ice cold. She started to shiver. With every passing second, the ground drained more of her already dying warmth. She couldn't see anymore; she couldn't feel nor hear anything - only things that were left was fear and pain.

That sensation - the terrible panic inside her heart and mind was the worst part of the whole process, but she knew all too well it wouldn't last long until it was over, and then she'd welcome the death with arms wide open.

* * *

 _Starfox Universe fanfiction:_

 **RISING PHOENIX**

 **Chapter 1:** _Welcome to the frontline_

* * *

 **A/N: (tl;dr just below)** _I finally made it. After finally deciding on publishing the first few chapters of Rising Phoenix here on FFnet, I realized along the way that the lackluster quality of the storytelling and irregular, not-so-frequent updates were going to kill the story for You guys._

 _ **That**_ _is the reason behind the new, revised edition. I simply had to sit down and rewrite it in a way that not only satisfied me, but allowed me to use it as a foundation to a new project, currently codenamed "Squadron" (many of you probably heard of it by now, but I'm not going to leave any more info for now)._

 _ **Thank you for believing in me**_ _._

 _ **TL;DR:**_ _Revised version, it's better, I'm happy. Project "squadron" possible. Thanks._

* * *

She was numb but comfortable. Nora knew that something was certainly not right - the ground wasn't comfortable by any means. It wasn't soft, and above all else, it wasn't warm.

"Where am I?" she whispered to herself, trying to open her eyes, not accustomed to the amount of light, though, they refused to obey. She rubbed them a bit then tried again, and what she saw was not what she had anticipated. She was lying on an enormous bed in the center of a spacious master bedroom, furnished like a palace, with mahogany furniture, silk hangings on the sides of the bed and golden finish on the walls. She took a moment to take all that in, before finally realizing she knew that place really well.

"Nora, is that you?" she heard the masculine voice coming from the door on the opposite side of the room. It was deep, but gentle, strong, but subtle, able to take away all the stress and sadness in her world just by saying three words - words she hasn't heard since what, for her, was an eternity.

She desperately wanted to see if it was true, so she walked towards the doors. Something was clearly off, however, because no matter how hard she tried, how fast she walked, the doors weren't getting any closer to her, just like she was stuck in place. Somehow, she wasn't surprised by that, her subconscious was well aware of what was going on, and even though she really didn't want to accept the reality, she had to… She had to relive, once again, the nightmare she's been having ever since that day, the day which changed her life forever.

The silence in the room was suddenly broken by a loud explosion, quickly followed by what seemed to be an earthquake. Pictures fell from the walls and glass from the windows shattered into pieces.

Just as suddenly the doors on the other side of the room were kicked open by a half-dressed distressed wolf. Completely ignoring Nora, he got to the wardrobe and grabbed a red leather jacket and a military backpack, probably prepared for an emergency situation like that.

"Shit, they got close faster than I'd anticipated," he said to himself out loud, putting the jacket on his shoulders, quickly examined the insides of the backpack.

"Shane, what's going on…?" Nora asked, her voice shaking just as much as the rest of her body.

Seeing the distressed look on her face, the wolf quickly regained his own composure and, dropping the backpack back on the floor, gave her a reassuring, warm hug,

"Everything is okay, hun," he said, placing a kiss on her forehead, "and it will stay that way if we get out of here quickly."

"Okay, I'll be right behind you," she said just before both of them left the house.

The sky was pitch black, even though it was only a few hours after morning. Nora looked around her frantically, her mind still trying to comprehend what actually was happening - she really did not want to believe this was a Venomian attack.

The buildings down the road and in the distance were crumbling under the damage they were put under in the last few minutes. Both the horizon and the sky were full of smoke and fire, and in the distance, one could hear screams, gunfire, and explosions.

"You know there's no time to explain," Shane said out of the blue," but I suppose you know exactly what is happening right now."

She nodded, "All we've got to do is to get to the shelter, they are probably already waiting for us there."

"That's most likely. You need to get there as fast as you can."

"What about you, aren't you coming?"

Shane shook his head and looked behind, "Not right away, I still have something to do first."

"Bullshit, there's nothing as important as getting to saf-" she tried to protest, but was silenced with a kiss. Despite all the stress and danger that surrounded them, nothing seemed to matter for the brief moment their lips were locked together.

Neither one of them wanted to break the loving embrace, but the urgency of the situation made Shane be the first one to stop. He took a step backward, still holding Nora's hand.

"I swear I'll be back, I have to make sure she's safe," he said, running away before she even had a chance to respond.

" _Okay tiger, pull yourself together,_ " she thought to herself, " _You know where to go and what to do; it's not like you're left in the dark._ "

Having successfully reassured herself in her mind, Nora headed down the road in the direction of an old railway tunnel leading to a complex of underground bunkers built back during the second Lylat Wars.

Getting closer to the epicenter of the attack, Nora finally started to comprehend the amount of damage the attackers inflicted upon the suburbs. Buildings turned to dust seemingly without any effort, trees, grass burnt to black, corpses of not-so-cleanly shot civilians laying down all over the place…

She was well aware of the dangers of living on the outer sector planet, yet still, the scope of brutality that she had witnessed up to this point was well beyond anybody's comprehension. Acting more on instinct than anything, Nora picked up the pace up until she reached a full-on sprint down the road. Luckily, in the range of her sight, there was no one to be found alive, neither friend nor foe. In these dire circumstances, that thought actually gave her some reassurance.

Having left suburbs, Nora progressed into a much denser area not too far from the old railway entrance. As she neared her destination, she took a quick glance around herself.

The old shaft she had before herself was, at one time, used by locals as a shortcut, but when one of the exits collapsed, the tunnel was abandoned and shortly thereafter fell into the state of complete disrepair, only to start serving as an attractive place for courageous children trying to impress their friends.

Because of a power outage, the location's own old, yet still efficient failsafe power generator sprung to life. The tunnel changed from pitch black to barely lit, drowning in red emergency light from sparsely hung light bulbs, in quantities just enough so anything but the ground could be differentiated from one another.

Nora knew exactly where to go - about halfway down the shaft there was a service passageway leading to a flight of stairs which in turn led towards the emergency bunker. Despite never being inside, Shane made sure she was well prepared in the case of immediate danger. With every step into the red tunnel, however, her confidence declined a bit more.

" _Relax, girl, there's no chance for anybody to be here, no one knew about the bunker... You're safe here, just get a move on-_ "

Her train of thought was interrupted by a loud clanging noise in the distance. Almost like hit with freezing water, she immediately froze in place. Adjusting her heightened senses, she attempted to make out any shapes, noises or smells that could potentially suggest a danger or lack thereof. Because of the echo, sheer fear, or simply because there really wasn't anything to begin with, her attempts proved futile. The sound of metal echoed through the concrete tunnel for what seemed an eternity, sending shivers down her spine with every second, and when it finally subsided, the silence that followed was unsettling, to say the least.

As she passed one of the few massive metal gates, the temperature started to abruptly drop, and she quickly found herself shivering. Her stress made it nigh impossible to keep the breath and pulse in check, but she knew she had to move on - it was either "just" a chance of death here, or certain death outside.

"Okay, just a bit-"

Her attempt to reassure herself was stopped in track by a faint sound of rocks hitting each other. Any reasonable person wouldn't even notice the sound, but Nora's heightened senses picked it up like it was a rock avalanche. Something wasn't right, someone was behind her. Slowly and silently, she turned around. She saw the same exact thing that she was looking at before – a seemingly never-ending train shaft covered in a dim red light, nothing suspicious nor out of the ordinary.

 _Did I imagine that? I'm sure someone was there…_

"Don't. Move."

Nora felt something poke her in the back of the head, and instantly knew what it was.

"I knew you were hiding something in this shaft, and it looks I wasn't mistaken."

The voice was low and coarse, sending shivers down her spine. It was definitely masculine and sounded like it belonged to a person that would not think twice about pulling the trigger aimed at an entirely harmless person… like her.

Tears fell from her face as she faced a sudden realization that not only her life but also the lives of everybody who knew about the emergency shelter was lost.

"Tell me, what a pretty foxy lady like you, missus, is doing in a place like this?"

Nora couldn't help but grimace in protest when she felt an ice-cold hand touch her cheek. He was gentle, but she knew all too well that if she didn't cooperate, she'll either get a new hole in her chest or get raped.

"F…" she stuttered, unsure if she should push the line. Albeit terrified, she knew the stakes – she couldn't rat out the potential survivors, she'd rather die.

That thought gave her a little motivation as she hissed through the teeth, "Fuck you."

Instantaneously a firm slap to the face came as a response. The hit was hard enough that her ears started ringing, "You bitch! You will reply to me as I see fit!"

She turned around a bit and looked him right into the eyes. Her attacker was a black panther, with cold, blue eyes that were entirely devoid of any emotions. They were the eyes of a soldier, used to the sight of the dead, not moved by cruelty nor violence.

They reminded her of someone she'd rather forgot, someone who brought as much fear as she felt at the moment. She survived him, how would she die in the hands of that panther?

Still looking right into his eyes, she growled, "Try me."

Agitated, the panther swung the butt of the gun right on her head, sending her on the ground, vision blurry, ears still ringing. He grabbed her hair and bent her backward, growling in her ear, "I'm not up for these games, whore. You will tell me where are your pals hiding and as a reward, I'll stop at fucking that nice ass of yours."

Another wave of pain and heat erupted from her backside as her bottom was slapped by the perverted aggressor. Still confused and unable to retaliate, Nora quickly regretted her last sentence, but even so, she was not going to tell him any vital information.

As she tried to stand back up, a solid kick to the side sent her right back on the ground. She let out a scream of pain as the sharp rocks tore through her hands. Thanks to the lighting, the liquid that came out was pitch black.

The panther got to her once again and thrust his hand right into her pants, reaching for the intimate areas, "Let's see what's behind the door number one" he smirked.

Nora started shouting in denial when the attacker violated her but was left too defenseless to be able to try and stop him.

"You think you're gonna tell me about your friends, or should I uncover what I found in your jeans?"

He crouched next to her and reached for the pants' button. However, his attempts were soon stopped in their tracks.

"Get away from her you fucker!" came right behind a wolf slammed his fist into the unsuspecting panther's face.

The initial surprise effect threw the cat into a complete disadvantage, allowing Shane to not only throw him on the ground but also trade a few consecutive punches. The wolf attacked without a break, opening all sorts of wounds on his adversary's face with the help of his claws. What he wasn't aware of, though, was the fact that the panther was not completely defenseless.

A loud hiss and a flash of light erupted from the wolf's side as his enemy pulled the trigger on his blaster. Nora winced when a painful, top-of-the-lung scream came from Shane in response.

The cat didn't waste any second. With a low-pitched growl, he got on top of the surprised wolf, and deliberately scarred his face with his own claws, "Wow. A cowboy thought he could win by surprise!? How's that taste for ya?!" he hissed triumphantly when the wolf's face erupted with blood.

"Shane!" Nora shouted as she tried to get up, but was still a little dizzy from what happened a few moments ago.

"Stay out of this!" came the reaction as the wolf kneed his adversary right in the crotch in an attempt to regain lost control over the struggle. One threw punches seemingly without stopping all the while trying to keep the blaster out of commission, while the other struggled to keep up.

Stopped in her tracks, Nora crouched on one knee, gasping for air as she watched the chaos unveiling right in front of her eyes. From what she had seen, Shane had little trouble keeping himself in control… Until one moment. Upon receiving a powerful blow in the face, he withdrew himself for a brief second. That pause was enough for the cat to get his hold back on the blaster.

"NO!" a desperate shout escaped Nora's lungs when a red laser erupted from the wolf's back. He kneeled for a brief moment, choking on his own blood. With a blank stare and mouth agape, like in slow motion, he fell to the ground, forcefully emptied of what made him alive.

She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She was deaf to the brutal laugh of the victor; her body was numb, mind empty. The situation spiraled out of control almost as fast as she was losing grip on reality at the moment. Back then, she wasn't in despair, she wasn't sad, there was no fear inside her mind. All of her basic emotions vanished, leaving room for a primal instinct, something so deeply rooted in her subconscious that, under normal circumstances, would never see the light of day. Her chest throbbed violently as her heart sped up; her eyes narrowed.

Without any hesitation, blind rage took over her body. With one jump, she closed the distance between her and her unsuspecting prey. The panther didn't even have a chance to blink before claws dug deep into his face, ripping out not only fur and skin but probably leaving marks in his skull as well.

 _ **It**_ wasn't moved by the cat's agonal screaming as his face turned into a mixture of muscle, blood, and dirt, neither did _**it**_ hesitate when it heard his begging – the animal that attacked him couldn't understand a single word. _**Its**_ only purpose at the moment was to kill, as brutally as it was possible. _**It**_ continued without a break for more than five minutes, way longer than the screaming and struggling and jerking lasted.

Finally, the rage subsided, and an instant recollection came into Nora's mind – _Shane_.

Nora instantaneously jumped off of what was a person before and was mortified. He just laid there, frozen with the terrified expression he had when he was shot. Blood dripped from his dislocated jaw on his chest, disappearing in already soaked white tank top.

She fell on her knees, grabbing his hand, but almost immediately withdrawing it – he was stiff and cold, even more than the temperature of their surroundings. Despair and devastating pain flooded Nora's mind to the point she nearly lost consciousness.

"Shane!" she repeated over and over, like a spell that would magically bring him back to life. But nothing changed, his blank, mortifying stare was fixed on the red light over her head, and no amount of praying nor shouting would change that.

 _You couldn't save me. You can't save yourself. You couldn't save them._

Nora screamed as a sudden wave of heat and pain erupted from her right side.

 _You are useless. He knew that. They knew that. You don't deserve to live._

Darkness overwhelmed her mind, she was at a brink of consciousness when she realized Shane wasn't there anymore.

 _You will die a slow and painful death. It's still more merciful that what you caused to me._

She found herself looking again at the blank, ice-cold stare, this time turned right at her. Shane was standing in front of her, making a gurgling sound, almost like he was choking on something.

"You will die," the animated corpse said aloud. Saying that the sight sent shivers down Nora's spine would be a grave misunderstanding. She was mortified, unable to move her body. It had a dislocated jaw, hanging loosely and swinging with every spasm that the corpse had.

 _You will die… You will die… You will die…_

The slow, repeated chant looped at the back of Nora's conscious, imprinting the shock and fear deep inside her mind. She couldn't help but stare at what was unveiling before her. It was a nightmare came true, everything one never could imagine themselves.

"Consider this a punishment," the wolf said as it nonchalantly went for the fallen gun, took it off the ground and pulled the trigger.

* * *

"Parker, status report."

A short guy behind a desk in the corner of the room jumped on his seat, unprepared for a sudden command from his superior. He quickly adjusted his glasses and did a quick run-through through three screens presenting all kinds of data.

"Sir, all systems appear to be functioning normally. Nobody even noticed something is out of the ordinary, sir" he gave a quick response, not tearing his eyes away from the readings.

A lean figure in a worn lab coat nodded, "That's because nothing is out of the ordinary. Send the data over and get the life support readouts ready. Commander will be here any minute."

"Already done, sir, you can check it out on your PDA" Parker answered casually, already concentrated on the work in front of him.

The man in a lab coat turned around from his subordinate and, avoiding the clutter on the ground, made his way through the control room towards the main wall where the biggest screen in the room was. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of glass. Upon contact with his hand, the device sprung to life revealing all the readings that were sent from Parker's computer.

"Central, open data cluster two-four and bring it up on screen," he said aloud as he grabbed a stranded chair and pulled it towards him. As the data was being accessed, he took off his lab coat and hung it over the backrest, revealing a damaged military outfit with a flak jacket.

His whole outfit was in a terrible shape, torn in many places, dirty and dusty from being worn almost 24/7 for the last week or so. He didn't seem to mind, however, as there were way more pressing matters ahead of him.

"Commander," he said as the doors next to the screen opened, and a tall, long-haired soldier entered the room, filling the previously silent place with heavy footsteps that echoed off the bare walls inside. He was in a terrible shape - he had circles under his bloodshot eyes, his long hair, wrapped into a ponytail was mangled and sweaty, and his uniform was far from a pristine condition.

"Matt, what's the situation and in how deep shit have we stepped into?" he asked, placing a hand on the other one's shoulder.

The man with the lab coat tapped the screen of a device in his hand and threw its contents over to the big screen with an upward swipe. The screens showed power levels throughout the facility, along with what seemed like blueprints for the place. There also was a small window that was monitored heart rate, temperature and level of painkillers in the bloodstream of the monitored.

"Should I tell you the truth or the usual response?" Matt asked with a grin that was quickly answered with an elbow bump in the back of his head.

"Give me details. How it's holding up?"

"Better than you thought it'd be; It's already started to scar, and only two days have passed since the expedition. As for the status report, Parker sent me the data a few moments ago, they should be ready in a minute." he took a brief pause there and stood up, "What I'm more concerned about, though, is your health."

"Everything is fine" the tall person shrugged, purposefully avoiding any eye contact.

"Mike" Matt sighed resignedly, "You know that you are the only person that keeps everything in order, but seventy-four hours? Get some sleep, it's not like the place will collapse when you take it off your eyes for one second."

Michael shook his head, "You know I can't; the stakes are currently too high. If we've truly found it, there's no time-"

"For FUCK'S SAKE, ARCHER!" he interrupted the other by slamming his fist into a glass desk, "You won't help anybody dead or unconscious!"

Mike blinked a few times, genuinely surprised by the sudden outburst, "Are you saying that as a doctor?"

"I'm saying that as your goddamn friend," came the response, "but since I happen to have a medical license, you can take it as a medical advice as well."

The soldier just stood there, processing the information that just had been said. Even if he wouldn't admit it, the lack of sleep really took a toll on the clarity of his mind. He had trouble concentrating on things and keeping his mind focused, often drifting away just to result in a slight confusion shortly after.

"I guess there's no denying that I'm positively exhausted," he said after a while, "Just try not to blow this place up when I'm napping, okay?"

Matt gave him a thumbs up, backed up by an honest smile, "consider it done. Now get to the sleeping quarters, commander."

Mike left the room. As the doors closed behind him and he was left alone to make the way back to the sleeping quarters, the man couldn't help but smile.

Matthew Konieczny was a damn good soldier and an even better computer specialist. But primarily, he was Michael's lifelong and most trusted friend, who always provided mental support and invaluable advice. The two knew that they could depend on each other in literally any situation, and when life threw them into opposite sides of a barricade, they found a way. Despite the fact that they weren't the same rank, other squad members took for granted that when Mike wasn't around, Konieczny was the second in command.

"Damn you!" Mike chuckled under his nose, "Outplayed again!" he grinned as he realized that he was so easily convinced to change his mind.

About halfway through the corridor, the soldier's mind drifted off to another current matter. Passing the junction leading to the sleeping quarters, he stopped for a moment, looking down the other passage, towards the medical wing, "I just hope…" he whispered under his nose. For a brief moment, thought to visit the med-bay crossed his mind, but that thought was stopped in its tracks by an involuntary yawn.

 _Naah, now is not the time. I better really get some sleep._

* * *

The pain was unbearable, just like the very fabric of her existence was hurt. She tried to scream, but couldn't. She tried to move but was unable to. Her brain was overloaded with information from her entire nervous system and was about to give up. She was denied even the freeing embrace of unconsciousness, though. The fear, pain and a mortifying image of a zombified wolf burned deeply into her conscious as her existence struggled with the Grim Reaper in a final fight for her life.

Suddenly, the pain eased a bit. She started shivering again. She felt her chest throb as her lungs demanded air once again. With a sharp and painful gasp, she filled her lungs with air and was immediately thrust into a sitting position when the exhausted organs stretched instantaneously. She choked up on her own blood a bit but was, once again, alive.

"Jej odczyty są w normie, ale coś jest- JENKINS dawaj uspokajające!" she heard over the ringing in her ears. She tried to open her eyes, but the light was too bright to even try.

Suddenly, she was thrown back down by some unknown force. The pain and coughing stopped, and she found that the consciousness was slipping away from her. Unable to do anything, she welcomed the tiredness arms open, drifting off to a deep slumber shortly afterward.

* * *

"Damn" Michael sighed to himself whilst getting out of his bunk bed. The man clinched the bridge between his eyes, trying to stop a terrible headache he's had ever since he woke up. It was like a hangover, with one difference - no hangover ever would put him in a state as he was at the moment.

His ears rang like a bell that has just been hit, and his stomach was acting up way worse than usual. It was then he realized how much stress his body was put under ever since his team decided to take over the base. He knew it was a suicidal plan, there were way too many elements that could misalign and backfire on them…

...but none of them did, and they have managed to get the upper hand without any casualties.

 _I know we're doing it for the greater good… But is the risk really worth the effort? Half of our staff is now in the medical ward, and the ones who came out unscathed haven't slept for at least three days now…_

Ice-cold water poured on his scalp seemed to ease up some of his thoughts, as well as helped him fight off some of an ongoing headache. Still, the stress and uneasiness weren't things that a simple shower was able to remedy. He and the squad that he was responsible for were still in grave danger - that was the cause, and only fixing that could reward him with a moment of peace.

 _That is to be expected from guerillas, though._

Michael threw the towel down on his bunk and reached for his khaki cargo pants, but ultimately decided against the idea. They were in a terrible condition, full of holes and tears, similarly for the other parts of his outfit. He went to the previous owner's wardrobe and gave it a quick search.

Without giving it much thought, he settled on a white undershirt coupled with a pair of black cargo pants. They were a little big for him, but primarily he'd tuck them into his boots anyway and secondly, they still were a better option than his old outfit. Looking himself over the mirror, he combed his short, black hair with his hand.

 _Fuck, Is my hair getting gray already?_

The doors closed behind him as he left the room and headed towards the medical ward. After a quick inspection of his PDA, only to learn that nothing really changed since he went for a nap, he decided he'd check up on his squadmates… And _that one_.

* * *

She felt like she'd been hit by a train. Half of her body hurt so badly she couldn't bring herself to move it, whereas the other one was numb to the point she wasn't sure if she was even able to move it. Her mind, however, regained a lot of clarity. She knew she'd been put in and out of sleep for at least several times now, and every time her body felt a little bit better. Her surroundings looked like some kind of a medical facility. However, she'd never seen any of the staff.

It was then when the doors opened. Two creatures entered the room. They looked like apes but had basically no fur on their face or hands. They had very short or no tail.

Nora's eyes narrowed with anger when the realization hit her. On sheer adrenaline, she jumped out of her bed. They instantly ran towards her, trying to put her back on the bed, but no force in the world would let her submit to those monsters. She turned herself to one of them and quickly lifted her knee into its groin. As it released its grasp and bent in half, shouting she discovered they not only were male but had their manly areas in the usual spot.

She felt a sting on her neck but didn't seem to mind, being more focused on getting out of the second oppressor's grasp than thinking about some stings. She whipped herself in every direction in futile attempts to free herself, but her body was too exhausted to be able to fend off the other attacker. A few moments later a numbing sensation clouded her mind. She fell on her knees, hitting her head on the bed's railing in the process. Feeling incredibly dizzy and sleepy, she quickly lost control of her body, but not before seeing the aliens in lab coats put her back on the bed.

* * *

"Let me get this straight," said Mike, almost choking himself with suppressed laughter, "Am I supposed to believe that two of my best Ph. D scientists with years of military training were barely able to restrain a, not only wounded but also sedated, Cornerian?"

"Umm…"

"Grant, can you, at least, tell me why the fuck are you keeping ice between your legs?"

"I... It kicked me right in my..." he blushed with shame, his eyes fixated on the ground, "Listen, boss, can we talk about something else?"

Nothing in the world was able to stop Michael from laughing at that point. Seeing two of his men in such condition, especially after seeing them in much more dire conditions, was unusually funny for him.

They have been tending to its injuries for the most of last five days, and it hadn't woken up once. The fact that it had not only woke up but was able to stand recently meant its recovery was progressing well but, for Mike, that was more worrying than anything else.

He found it under a pile of rubble during a routine reconnaissance around the base. With a gun wound leading entirely through its body and missing a heart by mere inches, coupled with many minor ones it wouldn't survive long without immediate medical attention.

"I'll let it slide for now," he said after regaining his composure, "we're all tired and accidents happen."

Both of the soldiers let out a sigh of relief.

"But know one thing. This is a vital operation, the one that we're having right now. We cannot afford mistakes like these. I will not tolerate such mistakes, not from my squad. Are. We. Clear?"

The soldiers nodded in unison, "Yes, sir."

"You're dismissed," came the response. "And let Konieczny know I'm going to the medical wing now."

* * *

 **A/N:** Welp. That was the first chapter. Hope you had fun :)

Also, next part should come in two weeks! If you are lucky, you can check picarto, under FictionDreams handler; who knows, maybe I'll be streaming while writing the next part?

Stay awesome and thanks for sticking by to the end! You're my hero!


	2. 2-Welcome to the family

_Starfox Universe Fanfiction:_

 **Rising Phoenix**

 **Chapter 2:** _Welcome to the family_

* * *

 **A/N** : _Okay. Beer in hand, ideas in mind, the second chapter is just getting out, fresh from my PC! Albeit with a slight slip-up, because, let's face it - I can't, for the love of me, keep up a schedule._

 _I would also like to ask you to cut me a little slack in the language department, I'm not a native speaker, and even though I try my best to learn the craft of English writing, I can make mistakes! Don't hang me, just pont out errors please!_

 _Without further ado, Enjoy!_

* * *

 _"Why am I even doing this?"_ Mike thought to himself as the doors closed behind him.

The med lab wasn't a big place, and with him and another person inside there was hardly any room to move. When the medic finally left, Mike sat down on a small stool across the room from the bed and inspected the patient.

It was clearly a Cornerian, a female at that. Its body looked completely human, except fiery red fur all over its body and addition of a muzzle.

It was a fox, or something similar, judging from the look of it. It was sleeping soundly, helped by an anesthetic.

He wasn't sure why he rescued her. She was a Cornerian, and, according to the outfit it was wearing, a military. Mike as a soldier knew that there was a calculated risk that once she wakes up and, it will at least try to fight her way out of their facility. There was no way she would just accept the fact that a random human soldier committed an act of goodwill, most of his kind would simply murder her on sight, in fact, that's most likely to have caused the recent escalations in the conflict between humans and cornerians in the first place...

...But he as a person was also aware that he simply couldn't leave her there to die, or worse, at the mercy of an Imperial patrol. He promised himself that the conflict wouldn't change him and he was damn committed to upholding this promise. Despite all the risks, Mike ultimately decided to take her in. For better or worse, he had already made up his mind. But even despite that, he sat beside her bed for more than an hour, quietly contemplating about all the choices he had made up until that point. If he stays true to his morals, will it affect his squad's mission negatively?

 _"I can't think about that in such a way,"_ he stopped his train of thought, _"More importantly, she is an_ _ **it**_ _. And_ _ **it**_ _won't be grateful at all for what I've done."_

* * *

When the faint, constant beeping sound of an electrocardiogram finally made it's way to her conscious, Nora opened her eyes. This time around, there was nobody to be found inside her room. Not that it mattered anyway since all that these humans have done to her was tending to her injuries and monitoring her vitals.

Many thoughts crossed her mind during these brief moments between the anesthetic kicking in and her waking up, but the most important was - _why?_ They had to have some motivation behind saving her life. Most likely they are going to interrogate her... But that ultimately didn't have any sense - they would have done so much earlier. Torture? Or maybe taking her as hostage...?

All those questions had yet to be answered since there was no one to talk to her, and she was confined to her bed.

" _It's all strange,"_ She thought, fixing her gaze on the blank ceiling. " _there HAS to be something I can provide to them…"_

Nora's train of thought was interrupted by the motion of sliding doors on the other end of the room. Two scientists entered the room, and she instantaneously felt the desire to get back to sleep. Having nothing as an alternative, she simply let her mind wander off.

* * *

"The Cornerian's vitals are getting better with every day, Mike," Matt cleared his throat and handed the PDA to his superior.

Michael gave the device a quick run through. The data showed great, almost unbelievably fast tempo of recovery of the Cornerian's body. There were still bone fractures, especially in the chest and its right arm, but most, if not all, internal wounds were almost completely healed.

"You sure these readings are right?" Mike said, pointing at the device. "Nobody with wounds that severe would recover THAT fast."

Konieczny shook his head, "You think I'd give you unprocessed and unverified data? These are correct... Somehow." The scientist scratched his head while looking at the research results, "You know," he said, "There's only so much we know about Cornerian anatomy. It's not like we had any chances to study them thoroughly in the past..."

"I wonder why."

"...But there can also be another explanation."

A glimpse of surprise crossed Mike's face for a brief moment but quickly returned to the usual, tired look. "We've searched for more than a week, Matt," he said, getting up from behind his computer. Walking slowly across the room, he slid his finger across the PDA screen, projecting its contents on the screens hanging on the wall. "That is a proof of nothing. If it was still there-"

"You can be right," Konieczny replied, crossing his arms and leaning on a wall behind him, still closely surveying the research results. "In my opinion though, it looks more than a mere coincidence. We should search the base again."

Mike sighed, clenching the bridge above his nose. "You know I trust you, Matt," he said. "But I think we looked through every nook and cranny here, and we found shit."

"Give me two men and three days, tops."

"We really should get the fuck out of here as soon as possible. You've forty-eight hours."

The scientist's face beamed with motivation as he ran out of the office, "Thanks, you won't regret this!"

As the doors closed, the man was once again left alone, standing in front of now blank computer screen. Still having the data in his mind, though, he weighed the options he had at the moment.

" _If we're going to get out of here soon, I'm not leaving the Cornerian here. Time to tie up at least one loose end."_

"Meyers, tell the med guys to wake the Cornerian up," he said through his radio. He sat behind his desk before finally adding, "And bring me a gun."

* * *

As the anesthetics' effect wore off a bit, Nora was finally able to focus her thoughts. The first thing she noticed were two scientists standing next to her bed and chatting in a language she'd never heard before. One of them then approached her and connected a syringe to the drip-bag.

" _Great, they did their shit, and now it's "Goodnight, sweet princess" again…"_

Much to her surprise, however, she didn't feel the sleepiness. If anything, she felt more energized.

"What the fuck?" she said under her breath, becoming more stressed as the time went on.

She didn't have much time to spend by herself before she heard the magnetic lock springing to life just as the doors opened.

A tall human soldier in a lab coat entered without a word. Not looking at her, it took a seat on a small stool in the corner of the room. She examined him quickly - it was definitely a male, with a long ponytail and shortly cut hair on his chin. Its eyes, distinctively green, were bloodshot and had swollen bags under them. It wasn't wearing a lab coat. Instead, it wore a flak jacket with nothing but a white T-shirt under, coupled with black cargo pants.

There was no doubt in her mind - it was a soldier, most likely one of the important ones. She recalled it visiting her before, with the other two scientists, or with the even taller one, with whom it talked much more freely. Her muscles tensed as she tried to decipher what was happening. It was the first time they deliberately woke her up, and now she was left alone in the room with a soldier. Was it going to interrogate her?

...And if yes, then how was it going to do it, she didn't know human languages.

The human looked composed and concentrated, if not a bit overstrung. It just sat there on the stool, with its stare locked into the ground.

"Hello." It said after a few moments of tense silence, causing her to jump in a bit of shock and disbelief. It was speaking Cornerian!

Having noticed the stress that appeared on her face, the human looked directly at her, "I'm Sergeant Michael Archer, it was me who brought you here."

Nora blinked a few times in disbelief, "H-how do you know my language?"

The human cleared its throat and adjusted itself on the stool, resting its elbows on its knees while placing its chin on folded hands. "We're at war," he said. "We've learned most of your language from the intercepted radio talk, but our scientists also salvaged the tech from your watches," the soldier smiled, tapping a small device on his wrist. "Putting it all together, we kind of deciphered your language and made a makeshift translator."

The vixen choked with her own saliva for a moment. Was that really possible? The software on Cornerian wrist-coms, especially the military-sourced ones was not an industry standard, even on Corneria - it had one of the best-encrypted systems in Lylat! There was no way...

Cold shivers ran through Nora's spine - as it turned out, humans not only had the necessary technology to reverse-engineer the software, they also were able to sideload their own languages into the thing.

Not that it really mattered, though, since she had no idea where she was at the moment and what was the purpose of her confinement.

"Why are you keeping me here?" she asked, trying to adjust herself better on the bed, but as soon as her chest moved, a wave of pain flooded her mind. Gasping painfully, she instinctively backed herself up to the original position.

"Take it easy," the human said, clearly worried. "You shouldn't do things like that until the hole in your chest heals up."

"My wh- what!?" The vixen stuttered. Driven by adrenaline and sheer shock, she threw the sheets off her body, revealing the terrible state of her body. She couldn't even see it, though, because the rapid movement she made brought an another wave of pain over her thoughts. A pain filled scream escaped her lungs, leaving her light-headed, but she endured it. Whispering curses between her teeth, she once again tried to readjust herself on the bed to be able to see her own body.

"I told you, you should-," the man once again tried to calmly stop her.

"Shut up." She snapped. She couldn't let the human see how weak she was at the moment. Further enduring the pain from the fractured rib cage, she put her elbows behind her and tried to push herself a bit upwards, but ended up falling on one side instead.

* * *

" _She's stubborn, I give her that,"_ he thought, forcefully stopping himself from smiling. He watched the despaired Cornerian's futile attempts to use the paralyzed hand and not noticing that something's out of the ordinary. He wanted to help but knew all too well that the vixen had to go through this herself.

"Oh my god," she gasped when she finally got a good look at her chest area. Because of her wriggling, all bandages were soaking with fresh blood, mostly in a place where her heart was.

"I'd say it's a miracle you're still breathing," he said, "Until now, I haven't seen one person to be shot by a fully charged railgun through the chest, and still live to see another day."

The dumbfounded look on her face told him she had no idea what was he talking about. "I found you about two weeks ago under a pile of rubble," he explained, standing up. "You have two chest wounds. One is from an assault rifle; the other one is from a sniper's railgun."

He walked over to the wall opposite of the Cornerian's bed and turned on the display, displaying her body under x-rays. "Most of your vital organs are intact; others are already healing quite well. Same goes for your right arm."

"My right arm…?" the vixen murmured, clearly trying to raise her right arm before finally noticing she's not able to. "What the fuck happened to my right arm!?"

"Relax," came the response. "It's paralyzed, but it's not irreversible. Aside from being fractured in two places, your nervous system has been severely damaged. We've deployed nanobots to fix that already. You'll know when it'll be ready."

The Cornerian slid back onto her bed, visibly conflicted and unsure of what to ask him. She was clearly exhausted by everything, so Mike decided he'd postpone the talk until the next day. Without saying anything, he turned away and left the room.

"You think that was a good idea?"

Mike smiled and turned around. Matt was standing right next to the doors and switched on the magnetic lock just as they closed, "What was I supposed to do?" Mike replied, "We'll have to free her sooner or later, I just want to minimize the risk-"

"Risk of what, **it** attacking us?" Matt snapped back, "You think I haven't noticed? This ain't just a good-hearted operation. **It** reminds you of him, doesn't it?"

"Matt-," the soldier tried to explain, but was once again interrupted.

"This is a CORNERIAN, Mike. It is not a ' **she** ', nor is it a person. It is an enemy soldier, mate. An animal at that. And it definitely is not a part of your squad."

Mike pushed back his friend a few steps then leaned on the wall behind him. "I am aware of that. I am not dropping my guard down if that's what you want to tell me."

Konieczny shook his head, then headed down the hallway, "Whatever, man. I'm just worried about my pal. Tread carefully, or squad 21 will not only lose a leader but will also have to murder a hostage."

"It's not that I'm not prepared for anything," came the response. "One wrong move, and sh… ' **IT'** gets a new hole in the head. I'd just like to avoid that."

Matt sighed loudly. "It's not what I wanted to tell you, though."

"What is it, then?"

* * *

As the doors closed behind the human, Nora was once again left alone with her thoughts. She was utterly confused; her mind was blank.

"What the fuck is the bigger picture here?" she asked herself aloud.

" _They're humans. Rotten, filthy humans. They destroy everything on their way, just like they did with Vaintas, Greino or Steinass."_ The vixen grinned with disgust. Her thoughts brought back images of corpses. Lots of them, thrown onto piles and left to rot. " _They didn't even spare children…"_

Despite the pain, she smacked her left hand on the bedside table with enough force the light furniture jumped into the air a bit, before finally falling to the ground.

" _And now this happens… Are they brainwashing me or something? I don't get it"_

Nora looked around, examining her surroundings. It was the very first time she was fully awake, and she intended to make a full use of that time. Much to her dismay, however, nothing in the laboratory was out of the ordinary. Nothing looked like a brainwashing device, neither - she wasn't connected to any apparatus, even the electrocardiogram was cordless.

But who was she to judge? Even if the device had a nameplate with "MIND CONTROL DEVICE" written all over it, she wouldn't be able to read that. She finally laid back on her bed, focusing on the regular sound of her own pulse in an attempt to gather her thoughts once again.

" _Okay, relax. It doesn't look like I'm being brainwashed. At least I don't **FEEL** brainwashed… Maybe they put something into me? A tracking device, perhaps?"_

It certainly was possible - the wound in her chest could be, in fact, a stitching from surgery made to conceal the tracking device inside her. On the other hand, she distinctly remembered being shot twice before she fell. That meant it could just be a railgun wound.

" _Damn it. At this rate, I'm going to get paranoid"_

Further, prolonged examination of the light didn't give any answers to the questions lingering at the back of her head. The stresses of the now passing day quickly dug into her energy, and she once again felt tired and sleepy. Having nothing better to do, she closed her eyes and let herself fall asleep. After all, she was - relatively speaking - quite safe there.

* * *

"Warp drive disengaged" a cold, metallic voice stated as the stars morphed from lines to dots and the engine sound died down to a mesmerizing hum.

A short figure chuckled with excitement, "ROB, what's our drift?"

A humanoid robot with a golden chassis turned its head around. "Drift 1,200 thousand," it replied.

"Fuck!" the figure exclaimed. "Okay. It's not terrible. Add calibration to the to-do list; I know she can do way better."

Even though it didn't go with a hiccup at the very end, the Cornerian prototype dreadnought vessel had just passed its first space jump test. It also meant that Cornell "Rusty" Toad, the ship's designer, creator and, at the moment, also the pilot, has just christened his first ship in his life, finally catching up to his lifelong dream of living up to his grandfather, Beltino Toad.

He slid out of the maintenance shaft below the main computer and sat on the captain's seat in the middle of the bridge.

Despite the fact the ship was a dreadnought, the bridge was designed to be pretty minimalistic, with space for two pilots, a navigator, head mechanic, comms operator and, of course, the captain. Even though the room wasn't spacious, the short amphibian still looked relatively small, being the only person in there.

He brought up a diagnostic console on the captain's computer, which in turn projected all sorts of diag data all over the HUD display on the walls around. He quickly glanced around these, making sure everything was in perfect order.

The main doors behind Cornell slid open, and a lynx entered the room. Her military boots clacked loudly as she walked up to the captain's seat and rested her arm on the back.

"So… I guess we're alive," she said indifferently. "We're also not in the middle of space, from the looks of it."

The amphibian glanced at his friend with a smile, "Yeah, she passed every test," he replied, tapping on the projected glass keyboard in front of him.

Miyu smiled as she walked across the room towards the navigator's seat. She sat on it and rested her feet atop of the console. "So," the lynx looked at the frog, placing her hands behind her head, "What's next?"

"I dunno," came the response. "I guess Phoenix Labs will send the ship to the military somewhere around this week, and I'm gonna get paid."

"Wow," Miyu chuckled. "If you want me to compliment you, Rusty, you're not gonna hear it."

Cornell rolled his eyes. "I know. Still, thanks for going with me."

"I didn't do it for you," she smirked, taking her boots off the console and opening up the interface.

"Umm… What are you doing?"

The ship's engines roared in response to Miyu's commands.

"Engaging jump drive. Target - Sylve," the computer voice announced.

Cornell jumped out of his seat and rushed towards Miyu, who was already standing guard in front of the computer with her arms crossed.

"Damn it Miyu!" he shouted, desperately trying to get to the console. "You're gonna get us suspended again!"

"The only thing that's getting suspended is your ass," came the response as Miyu grabbed the amphibian by his jacket and threw him on his back with ease. His attempts to yank his arms out of her grasp were futile, though.

"Jump in 3… 2… 1…"

* * *

" _Consider this a punishment"_

The words echoed through her mind as she abruptly woke up from sleep and almost jumped out of her bed. She immediately regretted the decision when her broken ribs reminded her of their presence.

Nora hated the nightmares. Ever since the attack on Ther, she couldn't get a night's worth of sleep, always visited by the memories of that day, of what happened to Shane, what happened to her.

The vixen was trembling, struggling to contain the fear and pain residing in her head. She thought it was all over, that she had learned how to cope with her memories, but the ambush and subsequent fear of death seemed to break the stress out of control. She had a hard time breathing as the panic overtook her rational thinking.

She remembered the moment when she was left on the ground in the pool of her blood, gasping for air with every breath. The cold was unbearable, comparable only to the amount of pain she experienced at that moment.

Nora's heart raced as the fight for self-control continued. She closed her eyes and attempted to slow her breath. Slowly, but steadily, she managed to push the images out of her head, just enough so the terrible numbing panic stopped.

"Okay," she said to herself, "I seriously need to stand up."

The pain in her chest wasn't as terrible as she thought at the beginning. Her outer wounds were already fully healed, except for the two railgun ones, but these were also on the right track to close themselves. After a bit of struggling, especially with the paralyzed right hand, she managed to get herself up and to sit upright on the edge of the bed.

Carefully, to avoid any unnecessary sound, as well in an attempt not to hurt herself, she slid her bottom down off the bed, trying to weigh herself, and gauge how weak her legs were. As soon as her weight shifted from the hand and back to the legs, however, her body collapsed on the floor.

"Damn it," she growled.

Her face hit the ground pretty hard, causing her ears to ring like hell. She didn't hurt herself in any meaningful way, so she was quite safe at the moment…

...That alone, though, wasn't the vixen's biggest concern at the moment.

"How the fuck am I going to get back on the bed again now?"

* * *

The scientist's eyes opened wide as he monitored the whole situation on the screen, "Markoff, Wendel! Red fell on the floor! Get your asses there and-"

"No," Mike abruptly stopped the man, keeping his eyes on the screen, "Let her handle herself."

* * *

"Okay… Let's see if this piece of junk is suitable for something more than being just a big paperweight," she said to herself, looking at the rail that kept her right hand in a proper position for better healing. She grabbed the bed with her left hand and pulled herself into a sitting position, leaning on one of the bed's legs.

"Okay, well, that's a start," she sighed, then pushed her right hand behind her back as a support, then pushed herself higher. Despite moaning a bit, the rail on her arm didn't give in and provided the vixen a nice little push towards getting into a vertical position. Besides the bed, however, there was nothing to grab around.

"F-Fuck," Nora growled with annoyance, "What the hell can I-" she stopped herself and got to work. Using her right arm as a support, she inched herself towards the door, then grabbed its handle.

"I really wonder why humans put handles on automated doors, but, damn, am I grateful they do," she smirked triumphantly as she got on one knee, and, slowly but steadily stood up.

Her knees were hardly able to lock in a straight position; her stance was unsteady - it was a challenge to just keep her weight on her two legs, let alone do anything more than that.

"Great. Now, let's take a little stroll across the room."

* * *

"I call bullshit!" One of the spectators repeated for the third time while counting his money, before throwing a bunch of it onto the pile before him.

"She'll make it," Mike said firmly, his arms crossed, not looking away from the screen.

For everybody gathered in the observation room, everything that had happened up until that point in the med room was a spectacle.

"Moreover," the soldier continued, "She's gonna try to break out tomorrow."

"Now THAT'S what I call bullshit, boss," another soldier chuckled as he threw forty bucks on the table.

" _She's stubborn,"_ Mike thought. He looked at the pile of money on the table and smiled to himself, knowing that this money will surely be his in a few moments.

* * *

With every step, Nora was feeling more and more comfortable on her own two legs. The wobbling stopped with the second lap around the med room, and now she was about to finish her fifth one. She was still limping a bit, which was understandable, given the fact her left leg was shot through the other day, but other than that she regained her strength almost terrifyingly fast.

"Damn I'm good," she laughed when she finally got back on her bed. She wondered what kind of meds was she under that her wounds healed so quickly - it was a little over a week since she was "rescued" by the humans, and despite the severity of the wounds sustained during the ambush, she already was able to walk.

That, however, was not the time for thinking. The vixen yawned loudly, tired with all that happened during that day, and quickly fell asleep.

* * *

"Miyu, for the love of the Creator, let's go back, Fara will surely make us regret that!" Cornell repeated once again, tailing the careless Lynx through the streets of Termina, Sylve's capital city.

Sylve was an outskirt planet known for all kinds of tourist activities. During one year, more than a half of Lylat system's population visited the planet's tropical beaches and winter resorts. That wasn't the cause of the Lynx's visit to the place though.

She strolled casually through the streets, sipping the strawberry smoothie she just picked up from the restaurant.

"Where are we going anyway?" The amphibian asked, trying to get any response from his friend.

Miyu stopped and turned around, "Rusty, I really don't mind you going with me, but please shut up before I change the shape of your face. Permanently."

"Fuck you, Miyu! I'm taking the shuttle back to the ship! I'm gonna leave in forty minutes, and I don't care if I leave you here!"

The lynx rolled her eyes, "Yeah. Like I'd believe you'd leave your sister alone. Do you think I'm stupid?"

The annoyed frog shrugged, "Do what you want, but don't expect me to put up with you! I'm so gonna file a report on you when we get back!" he continued to ramble as he went around the corner, finally disappearing from the lynx's sight.

"Okay, now that I got rid of him…" she said, turning on her wrist-com and dialing a number from her phonebook. After a few dial tones, an image of a white dog with bows tied to the ears appeared on the screen.

"Oh my- Miyu?! Long time no see!" she said enthusiastically.

"Hey Fay, likewise."

* * *

 **A/N** : _That concludes chapter two of Rising Phoenix. I mainly attempted to fix the pacing and description side of things, given that in the original project all that was terrible._

 _Once again, I am truly and deeply grateful for your interest in my writing! Please share your insight on what should I improve, I value your thoughts very much._

 _Take care heroes, and see you in next two weeks!_


End file.
